Ryan Moore may partner Stefan Friborg’s NATAGORA (Divine Light) in
Sunday’s Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby) (Fr-G1) at Chantilly following days of
speculation revolving around Christophe Soumillon and even Julien Leparoux.
While connections of the One Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1) heroine are yet to confirm a rider,
Britain’s 2007 Champion Jockey has entered the fray.
Trainer Pascal Bary told PA
Sport, “We will wait until after tomorrow’s cancellation stage before making any
decision. We want to see which jockeys will be available after the balloting.”
That could yet bring Soumillon back onto the agenda if His Highness the Aga
Khan’s Longchamp conditions scorer MONTMARTRE (Montjeu [Ire]) is balloted
out. The current number of 24 will be cut tomorrow after Dermot Weld has
withdrawn Casual Conquest (Hernando [Fr]), and lots will be drawn to
select the final horse eligible in the 20-strong field.
Clerk of the Course Matthieu Vincent gave an official ground description of soft
Thursday morning,
with the eventual going still expected to read good to soft on Sunday.